Trans-America Trail

The Trans-America Trail (TAT) is a trail that goes east to west (not west to east - more on this later), starting in Tennessee and ending in Oregon.

There is a small group of local Buell riders who are going on their dual-purpose bikes in June. Now, I’m a road rider, and in fact only once have owned a dual-purpose bike (we called them enduro bikes in the late 70’s), and only rarely took the bike off road because I needed it to get to school and work and couldn’t afford to have it go down. When I bought the Buell Ulysses, I thought that finally I would have a bike to go down dirt roads and fire roads if needed. Anyhow, with the recent purchase of the BMW RT, I don’t have the money to buy yet another bike, even if I’m going to sell it after the trip, so I’m considering taking the Ulysses on the Trans-America Trail with the Buell boys. I’ve read the ride reports and nearly everybody thinks I’m crazy for considering it since the Ulysses was not designed for that much off-road. I do wish there was a better off-road tire for the Ulysses, but there isn’t. So, I’m going to put a set of Pirelli MT60 tires on the bike if I finally decide to go. I think the thing most people on AdvRider and BadWeatherBiker forums don’t understand is that I’m not all that opposed to going around sections that I don’t think I can handle on the Ulysses and meeting up with the group somewhere for the night. A former colleague at LSI loaned me a book about Emilio Scotto, a man who rode his Honda Goldwing around the world. It took him ten years to do it, and in the book he talks about having to push his bike through some horrendous jungles and muck in Africa and Asia. I really think if he can do that on a Goldwing, a bike designed for 100% street, I can tackle some of the TAT without problems. Crazy? Maybe, but I think Erik Buell would go for it.

Will I go? I’m still unsure. I have some doubts, but I’m always ready for an adventure. One thing the Marine Corps taught me is that my only limit is my mind and what I tell myself I can’t do. I’ll keep you posted, but I am looking forward to the planning that has to be done for this trip.

Oh yeah, a bit about the east to west route. The guy who came up with the route lives in Tennessee, so it makes sense that it is routed to go westward. Both roll maps and regular maps he setup going that direction and on his website, he makes it clear that is how he intends people to ride it, not the other way around. The group plans to pick up the trail in Arkansas and go only as far as Utah. I may or may not go all the way... more to come I’m sure!